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by Wood, Lauren

  The drive was a long one, something I was going to have to get used to. There really was no popping down to the store without a twenty minute drive ahead of us, but when we got there, I didn’t want to get out of the truck. I wanted to stay where I was and feel him against me. It was hard to push away the feelings of need that I had and the need for closeness with him.

  We looked at several types of guns and we settled on a shotgun that I thought was too big, but he insisted that I needed something that was about that size. It was hard to imagine me carrying it and using it, but I knew that Bill was just looking out for me so I was going to have to go with it.

  Stopping a few other places so that I could get some more supplies that he suggested, we went back to the cabin and Bill promised that he was going to show me how to shoot. It was something I was nervous about, but as soon as he came up behind me and held me, I knew that it was going to be okay. Just the lightest touch from the man was enough to settle my nerves and again I had to wonder what kind of a voodoo spell he had over me.

  “Just relax yourself Ayla. It’s going to be okay. I know that you can do this.”

  I did as he suggested and tried not to melt into the man’s arms while he was holding me. That was the hardest part of all and it was the part that I had to resist the most. I just wanted him so badly and I missed him. I missed us together, but I had to focus. Like Bill said, my life could depend on this one day.

  So after a lot of ammo and enough noise to get my ears ringing, I was able to hit some of the targets and Bill was satisfied with my progress. I wasn’t too sure that I was ready to take down a bear, but I did feel a little bit better about it all. He also helped me get the bear resistant trash can put back in place and I tried to get up there a couple of times. I wasn’t too keen on the ladder on the way up that was merely a few boards nailed into the tree, but I figured if my aunt could do it, I would make myself do it as well.

  It was all and all a good day and Bill stayed for dinner. After dinner we fooled around a little bit and I know that I wanted him to stay, but I decided that I still needed to learn how to be here by myself. I was nervous because of what had happened the night before, but I was so tired after making love to Bill that I figured I wouldn’t be up long either. He was going to come by in the morning and I was looking forward to it.

  After we kissed, Bill left and I felt emptiness inside of me that I hadn’t experienced in a while. I wanted to call him back, but I didn’t. I was trying to be strong and prove to myself more than anything else that I could do this on my own. It was hard and I was scared about a lot of things, but I had to do this.

  ***

  It was late and I heard a noise. Something that I didn’t really think about when I moved to Alaska was how quiet it was. I knew that it was going to be peaceful, but it was on a whole other level than I could have imagined. There was nothing wrong with that, but when something wasn’t right or something was there that shouldn’t be, I could tell right away. It was a feeling that I had and when I woke up out of a deep sleep, I knew something was off.

  The sound was one of an animal I thought, but then I heard the door in the front room trying to open and I knew that it wasn’t an animal that I was worried about.

  My heart started to pound in my chest and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. My mind went to the gun that was in the front room and I wished then that I had taken it with me into the bedroom. I had just been so damn tired after Bill left that I hadn’t thought of it. He had helped me bear proof everything and I was feeling really confident about it all. Now I didn’t feel confident at all and I was scared. This was my second night alone and it wasn’t looking all that well. I was starting to think that I was in way over my head and the idea that I could do this was me just kidding myself.

  I went to the living room and tried to be as quiet as possible. I could see a shadow in the window and then a clicking sound as someone tried to open it. Bill had checked all the windows before I left and I was now more thankful for him than I ever had been before.

  I picked up the gun and then searched in the dark for my phone. I was thankful to have one bar and it was then that I called Bill. I didn’t want to of course, I wanted to be independent, but at the same time I was scared to death that whoever it was trying to get in wanted to cause me harm and I didn’t know what else to do or who else to turn to. I needed his guidance and I needed him to come save me. I hated to be the damsel in distress, but I was in more distress than I could have imagined possible.

  Bill answered pretty quickly and I didn’t say much before he was telling me that he was on his way. He said something about he was afraid that this was going to happen, but I didn’t know what he was talking about.

  When I got off of the phone with him, the person was trying the door again and I finally found my voice and told them that I had a gun and that he better leave.

  There were a few moments of silence that followed and I could hear my heart beating hard in my chest, the blood pressure filling up all sounds from my ears. When I saw the lights coming in the window a few minutes after that, I knew that Bill was here and I had too much relief wash through me. How was I ever going to do this on my own when Alaska was starting to be so dangerous in my eyes? It was like everything was out to get me right now and I didn’t like the feeling at all.

  Chapter 12

  Bill

  When I got to the cabin, my lights showed the boot tracks all over her porch and around her house. I tried to let them pan into the surrounding woods when I saw the tracks going in and out of it, but I wasn’t able to see anything. A big part of me wanted to go track down whoever it was that had spooked her, but I wanted to get my eyes on Ayla first and make sure that she was okay. She was having one hell of a week and the more I thought about it, the more I was compelled to make sure that she was okay first.

  The door opened quickly and again Ayla was in my arms, but this time she was far more shaken then before. I could feel her trembling and I felt horrible for her. I had an idea of what happened and I tried to warn her about it, but I knew that it wasn’t the time to say anything. There was a part of me that wanted to take her home, but there was a stubborn side to her that wanted to tough it out. I admired her strength, but at the same time there was a lot for her to worry about. She was a beautiful girl and it wasn’t going to be safe for her here by herself. Not unless she really tried to be safe and that meant learning to be more assertive and to get better with that gun.

  “Are you okay baby?”

  She said that she was, but she was still shaking and I could tell that she was still scared. I made her some coffee and asked her about what happened. It was clear someone was trying to get in and I had a feeling that I knew what they wanted with her. It wasn’t hard to guess and when she told me what was going on, I got even madder. How was I supposed to protect her when she was all the way over here?

  “Who do you think it was Bill?”

  I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to put any names out there until I figured out more. I didn’t want to go over it half assed. I knew that I was going to be able to follow the tracks and figure it out, but that didn’t mean that I wanted her to know.

  “I don’t know Ayla. I told you that you are a pretty girl and there are a lot of men here that would do anything to be with you. It had to be someone that knew you were going to be alone.”

  “Do you think it was one of the guys that helped out the last couple of days?”

  Yes.

  But I shrugged and told her that I wasn’t sure. She had been to the town and more people knew where she lived now and how pretty she was. She was not the average women here in Alaska and many men had paid more attention to her than I was comfortable with. It could have been any of those people that had decided that she was going to be their prize. I knew how they thought and I knew that it could be anyone, however the person had left on foot and there were only a few people that it could be unless they left a snowmobile not too far from the
cabin. I was going to have to chase tracks to find out.

  “Why don’t we get you to bed so you can get some sleep? You look exhausted.”

  “I am.”

  “Well you get to bed and I’m going to go figure out who it was.”

  “Please don’t leave me Bill. I won’t be able to go back to sleep if you leave.”

  I was torn on what to do. I didn’t want to leave her, but I wanted to get to whoever it was and finish it. I wasn’t going to let someone hurt her and I was mad at myself for it almost happening at all.

  “I will lay down with you for a while and then I have to go track down who this was.”

  “Can’t we just call the police?”

  “We could, but I don’t want to wait. I want to find out who it was.”

  She looked worried and I was touched that she was worried about me. “It’s going to be fine Ayla. I can take care of myself. I’m going to find out who is bothering you and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

  She agreed, but there was a part of her that didn’t want to. I wanted to stay with her, but I didn’t want the police involved. Around here, we took care of things ourselves around here and I wasn’t going to be as nice as the police would be, especially if it was who I thought it was. I was going to make sure that whoever it was and everyone else in town knew that Ayla was going to be safe because she was under my protection.

  I lay down with her for a while and then when she was asleep, the sun was coming up and I took my gun and followed the tracks that led off into the woods. I was going to take care of this now before something else happened. Everyone in town was going to know that she was off limits and no one was going to mess with her again. Ayla was mine.

  ***

  I knocked on the door, hard and waited a moment. I heard a little scuffling going on the other side of the door so I knew he was home. He didn’t even have the sense to try to cover up his tracks. There were tracks from Ayla’s front door to his. I knew that he was the one that had messed with her and I wasn’t going to let it stand. He should have known better, but he was about to.

  The gun in my hand was cocked and I was ready to deal with him in whatever way I needed to. I wasn’t going to let it stand and he should have known that about me. I had never been one to hide how I really was and that was why I was sure he was going to get it soon enough.

  “Open the damn door Trent. We need to talk.”

  There was sudden silence on the other side of the wood and I knew that he wasn’t going to talk to me on his own volition. I also knew that he had a gun as well, so I was going to have to be careful what I did. This wasn’t going to go to the police. I was going to take care of it the best way that I knew how.

  Then I heard a very eerie sound and I moved to the side of the door. Trent knew what I was there for and he knew what I was going to do. I wasn’t going to let it go, not when it came to Ayla and he was packing heat. The click of the gun was the last thing I heard before there was a loud sound and then the crack of a gunshot. If I hadn’t of moved out of the way, I would have had a bullet in me, but I knew better and now I was waiting for him to come out and check.

  When he did, I shot him. It was quick and there was a lot running through my head, but I knew that he was the one that had shot first. There was no warning when he did and I didn’t think that I should give him a chance to get out of the way either.

  My bullet found him in the chest and he looked up at me with surprised eyes.

  “You should have left her alone Trent. I will call the police and hopefully the get here in time.”

  He didn’t say anything, maybe he couldn’t, but I reached into my pocket and pulled out the phone that was there. I didn’t know if it would do any good, but I called the cops and waited on the man’s porch for them to get there. I even pressed a rag onto his wound to stop the bleeding, but it was clear to me pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to make a difference. I had shot true and he wasn’t going to make it much longer. I had regret that it had ended this way, but keeping her safe was necessary.

  When the cops arrived, I didn’t have my gun up and they arrested me for shooting Trent. It didn’t look good, but I hoped that the fact that he had shot through the door first and what he had done to Ayla was going to be enough. In my mind, all of this had worked out so much differently, but now there was nothing I could do. What’s done is done and I was going to have to pay for it. Sad thing was that I didn’t regret much of anything else, beyond the fact that if I was in jail, who was going to watch out for Ayla? I really hadn’t thought it through because it wasn’t the way that I had expected it to go. I hadn’t expected Trent to pull a gun and try to shoot me, but I knew the rumors about him and now I knew that they were true.

  I sat in jail that night and worried about what was going to happen. I wasn’t as worried about myself as I was about Ayla. She was still going to be in danger and I wanted to make sure that she was okay. I had one phone call and I tried to call her, but when I tried to call her nothing happened. I was just going to have to wait and see.

  Chapter 13

  Ayla

  I woke up alone and a little cold because the fire had went out in the woodstove. That kept me busy for a little while as I went out to the porch and got it filled up again so that I could warm the place up. I noticed that Bill was gone, but he had told me that he was going to be leaving to check things out. I didn’t know what to think of what happened the night before, but after some sleep and the sun being up, I was able to think a little more clearly. I was thankful that he had come when he did because I didn’t want to think about what could have happened.

  It was a little after noon and I had made something to eat. It was then that I started to worry about him. I knew that he would have been back by now so my mind went to what had happened to him. I was worried that I wasn’t going to see him again and I knew that it was a silly thing to think, but whoever he was tracking down was obviously not afraid to harass someone and I was worried that something bad had happened. It was a feeling that I had in the pit of my stomach that kept getting stronger and it was hard to ignore. What would I do if something happened to Bill? He had been the only one to help me and I was worried about what was going on.

  With the knock at the door, I felt relief wash over me because I was sure that it was Bill and everything was going to be okay. In my mind, he had found out who it was and had beaten him up for me so that they would leave me alone. It was the only conclusion that I could come up with and I had myself convinced that everything was going to be fine. I knew it, I just knew it.

  I didn’t expect a couple of police to be standing on my porch when I opened the door though and I was scared to death that it was the bad news that I was sure was going to come. Something had happened to Bill and I was going to lose it.

  “Is he okay? Where is Bill?”

  “Miss, we need to ask you a few questions about what transpired here last night.”

  “Yes fine, but where is Bill?”

  “He’s been taken into custody and that is why we are here. We need to know what happened last night.”

  He had been taken to jail? What did that mean? What had he done to put himself in jail? I was so confused and I didn’t know what was going on and the two men standing in front of me were looking at me in a strange way. I wanted to ask them what it was that they were staring at, but I didn’t think that it was the right time.

  “Come in. Sorry, I just was not expecting you guys. I just got the stove going so at least it is a little warmer in here than it is out there. I can’t believe that it is so cold here even though it is June.”

  “This is warm Ma’am. I take it that you haven’t been here that long?”

  “About a week and it has been a very strange week.”

  The two men looked at each other and I wondered what was going on in the look that passed between them. What did they know about me and why were they here?

  “Would you like something hot to drink? Bi
ll made some coffee earlier and it should still be okay to drink.”

  “Bill Mays was here earlier?”

  I nodded my head that he was and wondered why that was a revelation worth writing down in their little notebook. It also occurred to me then that it was the first time that I had heard his full name and it was strange to hear it said out loud. Why hadn’t I asked that about him before? We had gotten so close that it seemed crazy that I didn’t know it.

  “Well we have some questions, like we said before, but first we need to corroborate what happened last night that brought Bill here.”

  “I called him because someone was trying to break in the house. After the whole bear fiasco, I was really nervous, but I knew it wasn’t a bear this time. This time it was a man trying to get through the doors and windows and Bill was the only person that I could call. He was here so quickly. I don’t know what I would do without him.”

  “So you called him in the middle of the night to come over because someone was trying to break into the cabin?”

  I nodded my head and I was actually relieved that he had called the cops. I had a feeling that it was all going to be okay now. Now that the cops were involved it was going to work itself out, but then why were they here asking about Bill?

  “Yes, like I said. It was some guy, but I couldn’t see him because it was dark. I called Bill and he was here a few minutes later. He helped to calm me down and lay with me for a while so I could get to sleep, but when I woke up he was gone. He told me that he was going to follow the tracks and see who it was. He is very protective of me and I am very lucky to have such a neighbor.”

  I thought I was helping, but one of the officers was writing down furiously in his notebook. I didn’t know what I said that was that important, but it seemed like it to them.